1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power control, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus of providing power control to an integrated electronic system, based on ambient environmental conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past few decades, commercial aircraft has become a necessary mode of travel for personal and business reasons. To improve passenger comfort, commercial aircraft typically offer a number of entertainment activities that can be enjoyed by the passenger, such as video games, movies and various selections of music. In addition, various electronic systems for supporting communications and/or other in-flight functions are provided.
Despite temperature and humidity control, the electronic compartments of commercial aircraft can reach temperature and humidity extremes that exceed the specified operating conditions for certain electrical or mechanical components in these electronic systems. These environmental extremes will subject the electronic or mechanical components to unnecessary stress. They may also cause the components to malfunction if devices utilizing the components are powered up under these extreme conditions.
A number of solutions in handling environmental extremes are impractical for implementation in in-flight entertainment systems. For example, the implementation of additional fans or other cooling systems will result in a corresponding increase in weight and cost. Moreover, it is difficult to control the environmental conditions the aircraft is subject to, so that maintenance of an ideal range of environmental conditions may be difficult. In addition, maintenance of the cooling systems may only be available at a number of specific locations, making this task expensive and commercially unattractive.
To insure the reliability of these sensitive components, it is necessary to prevent the components from operating when the ambient conditions within the aircraft or portions of the aircraft exceed the specified operating conditions for these components. However, while control and vital electronics such as that in navigation systems require protection from environmental extremes using solutions such as multiple redundancy, cooling and shielding, those implemented in nonvital electronics such as in-flight entertainment systems do not require such expensive solutions which may also require high maintenance.
Accordingly, there is a need in the technology for an apparatus and method for providing power control to electronic systems, in particular, sensitive electronic systems located in an in-flight entertainment system, so that these sensitive electronic systems will only be operable within acceptable environmental conditions, thereby increasing the reliability of the electronic systems. The apparatus and method must be highly reliable but inexpensive and must also require minimal maintenance.